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Brandon Fogg must solve two seemingly unrelated problems in his management of creative R&D professionals. First, despite having hired brilliant research professionals, his firm is having problems commercializing their ideas. Second, his most brilliant engineer has invented a breakthrough, but refuses to assign the intellectual property to the firm, despite having agreed to do so in his employment contract. Fogg must choose from a variety of options, including prosecution of a noncompete agreement.

In March 2000, Paul Lippe, CEO of SKOLAR, faced several decisions that could determine the fate of his young company. SKOLAR had developed a Web-based information resource for doctors. The site was in beta-test at the Stanford School of Medicine, with commercial release planned for September. Lippe had just received a market study prepared by McKinsey & Company describing the potential market for the SKOLAR product. He studied the report, thought about the company's experience to date, and the decisions he had to make. Did he have the information needed to make good decisions? If not, what other information did he need, and how could he get it? Includes the McKinsey report, as well as information about the SKOLAR product and proposed business model, and other sources of medical information for doctors in 2000.

Founded in 1980 by Bill Drayton, Ashoka was a professional organization that identified and invested in leading social entrepreneurs globally. Analogous to a venture capital firm for social start-ups, Ashoka found and supported outstanding individuals with ideas for far-reaching social change by electing them to a fellowship of social entrepreneurs. As defined by Ashoka, the social entrepreneur had the same makeup as a business entrepreneur--in mental attitude, vision, bias for action, and skills--but the social entrepreneur sought to better the world in some way. Until 1997, Ashoka focused solely on locating and supporting social entrepreneurs in developing countries. Over the next three years, however, Ashoka entered a new stage, requiring it to shed its trappings as a "global development organization." Ashoka updated its mission to address the demands of a rapidly expanding citizen sector and its more than 1,500 leading social entrepreneurs. Because Ashoka's new mission required a kind of risk-taking and willingness to "make things happen in a bigger way," Ashoka made a commitment to hire only social entrepreneurs for its key functions. The new mission and hiring commitment attracted leading business entrepreneurs to Ashoka for the first time, triggering unprecedented organizational growth and allowing Ashoka to open for business in the U.S. Addresses the challenges facing Ashoka in the U.S.

As Paul Kennedy sits in Cleveland's endless morning traffic, his thoughts are going in all sorts of directions, even if he's not. He's worried about his wife, who may be coming down with a cold right before their wedding anniversary. He's worried about the pitching and fielding assignments he'll have to make for tonight's Little League game. He's worried about the health of his boss, Larry, who recently had a heart attack. He's worried about his associate, Lisa, whose mother is ill and whose work is slipping. He's worried about the Cleveland Browns. He's excited too, though, about his plans to expand Daner Associates into Europe and the reorganization he's recommending, which would take a load off Larry by ceding day-to-day operations of the "new media" company to a new CEO--probably Paul, from all the hints he's heard. "I could swear Larry's been doing the nudge-nudge, wink-wink in my direction," Paul says to himself. And why not? He's been there for 10 years; he knows every facet of the operation. Customers, vendors, and employees love him. But when he meets with his boss that afternoon, Paul is in for a rude shock. Larry is considering hard-nosed George for the top slot and Paul for the No. 2 role. Paul has many of the right ingredients to be CEO, Larry explains, but he's got to get tougher. "What does that mean?" Paul thinks indignantly, back in traffic, on the way home that night. "Become an absolute jerk like George?" What can Paul do to show he's CEO material? In R0602A and R0602Z, four experts--Google CEO Eric Schmidt, author Stephen R. Covey, AVL North America CEO Don Manvel, and executive coach Maggie Craddock--comment on this fictional case study.

As Paul Kennedy sits in Cleveland's endless morning traffic, his thoughts are going in all sorts of directions, even if he's not. He's worried about his wife, who may be coming down with a cold right before their wedding anniversary. He's worried about the pitching and fielding assignments he'll have to make for tonight's Little League game. He's worried about the health of his boss, Larry, who recently had a heart attack. He's worried about his associate, Lisa, whose mother is ill and whose work is slipping. He's worried about the Cleveland Browns. He's excited too, though, about his plans to expand Daner Associates into Europe and the reorganization he's recommending, which would take a load off Larry by ceding day-to-day operations of the "new media" company to a new CEO--probably Paul, from all the hints he's heard. "I could swear Larry's been doing the nudge-nudge, wink-wink in my direction," Paul says to himself. And why not? He's been there for 10 years; he knows every facet of the operation. Customers, vendors, and employees love him. But when he meets with his boss that afternoon, Paul is in for a rude shock. Larry is considering hard-nosed George for the top slot and Paul for the No. 2 role. Paul has many of the right ingredients to be CEO, Larry explains, but he's got to get tougher. "What does that mean?" Paul thinks indignantly, back in traffic, on the way home that night. "Become an absolute jerk like George?" What can Paul do to show he's CEO material? In R0602A and R0602Z, four experts--Google CEO Eric Schmidt, author Stephen R. Covey, AVL North America CEO Don Manvel, and executive coach Maggie Craddock--comment on this fictional case study.

As Paul Kennedy sits in Cleveland's endless morning traffic, his thoughts are going in all sorts of directions, even if he's not. He's worried about his wife, who may be coming down with a cold right before their wedding anniversary. He's worried about the pitching and fielding assignments he'll have to make for tonight's Little League game. He's worried about the health of his boss, Larry, who recently had a heart attack. He's worried about his associate, Lisa, whose mother is ill and whose work is slipping. He's worried about the Cleveland Browns. He's excited too, though, about his plans to expand Daner Associates into Europe and the reorganization he's recommending, which would take a load off Larry by ceding day-to-day operations of the "new media" company to a new CEO--probably Paul, from all the hints he's heard. "I could swear Larry's been doing the nudge-nudge, wink-wink in my direction," Paul says to himself. And why not? He's been there for 10 years; he knows every facet of the operation. Customers, vendors, and employees love him. But when he meets with his boss that afternoon, Paul is in for a rude shock. Larry is considering hard-nosed George for the top slot and Paul for the No. 2 role. Paul has many of the right ingredients to be CEO, Larry explains, but he's got to get tougher. "What does that mean?" Paul thinks indignantly, back in traffic, on the way home that night. "Become an absolute jerk like George?" What can Paul do to show he's CEO material? In R0602A and R0602Z, four experts--Google CEO Eric Schmidt, author Stephen R. Covey, AVL North America CEO Don Manvel, and executive coach Maggie Craddock--comment on this fictional case study.

This is the fourth of a four-case series. At first glance, Hewlett Packard (HP) doesn't seem to be a family firm, but when push comes to shove - as it did during the controversial HP-Compaq merger - family matters. The case introduces the strategy that drove the merger, analyses Carly Fiorina's background and leadership style, and discusses the corporate culture of HP. Chronologically, the case begins with the announcement of the merger and ends with the shareholders' vote. This case study illustrates the importance of corporate governance, parallel planning, and a shared vision in organisations in which the founding families still have a large financial and emotional stake.

This case allows course participants to use a graphical simulation tool to explore several key factors that lead to customer response delays in service systems. A high-level discussion can then ensue on process flow management, including tools like segmentation, process standardization and scheduling, and resource utilization planning. The case requires the ProModel simulation software tool (not included, to be purchased separately), and computer simulation input files (available free from the author's website: http://faculty.insead.edu/stephen-chick/simulations ).

Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP), a San Francisco-based bank focusing on emerging growth companies, is considering its strategy in the context of regulatory, competitive, and legal changes. Blake Jorgensen, the chief operating officer and co-director of investment banking, must decide how best to serve TWP's clients given the Global Research Analyst Settlement, Regulation Fair Disclosure, changes in "soft dollar" commissions, decimalization, and Sarbanes-Oxley.

The partners of Adams Capital Management must decide whether to start their fourth fund in early 2006 or to hold off until they have realized more exits from the earlier funds and have proved the viability of a recent change in strategy.

Endo Pharmaceuticals was formed in 1997 as a leveraged buyout spin-off from DuPont Merck. In 1999, it must decide whether to do an IPO or merge with a smaller company.

In preparation for hosting the 2004 Olympics, the city of Athens, Greece embarked on an extensive renovation project, New Images for Athens, to beautify the city. In total, over 1,600 buildings received attention at a cost of over 4.5 million euros. The work was carried out through a partnership that involved local officials, architects, skilled trades people, the business community, and Greek citizens. Initial results were visually impressive; most of the projects lay along the routes to the Olympic venues in the city and tourists enjoyed the brightly colored buildings and small parks that were created. However, after the Olympics, Athens had to evaluate the long-term gains from the NIA program. What value had been created initially and how could that value be sustained for the permanent residents of the city. HKS Case Number 1821.0

Professional cycling teams use road bikes made up of several parts or components: frames, forks, wheels and tires, saddles, seat posts, handlebars, and pedals. Pedals hold a cyclist's special shoes in place so they can "clip in" for greater control and power, and several companies make different models of pedals. Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, uses Shimano pedals. Shimano, founded and based in Sakai City, Japan, makes many of the key components of a bike. The fact that each of the different components to a high-end road bike are manufactured by different companies makes for a complicated bike industry supply chain. By 2006, Shimano had grown from a family-based business (founded by Shozoburo Shimano in 1920) that focused on freewheels, to a $1.6 billion global company (with net income of $186 million) that not only manufactured mid- to high-end bike components (and low-end components as well), but also made fishing tackle. Eighty percent of the company's sales were from high-end bike components and 20 % from mid-range bicycle components. Seventy-five percent of the company's earnings could be attributed to components. Shimano led the bike component industry, owning over 80 % of the high-end component market. But growth did not come overnight. Shimano's leaders reflected on the company and its growth trajectory. They were particularly proud of Shimano's market domination, largely attributable to the company's commitment to research and technology, as well as to the amount of value the company had been able to leverage from the industry's supply chain. As new technologies and new companies began to enter the market, and the longer term sales trend of a mature road bike industry remained relatively flat--despite the "Armstrong effect"--Shimano's leaders and their team wondered how to continue their growth in the mid- to high-end components market and achieve growth on an even greater global scale.

Hewlett-Packard decided that, to grow more rapidly, it needed to design a revolutionary disk drive product that would create an entirely new market or application for magnetic recording technology. The company followed most of the "rules" good managers follow in such situations: heavyweight project team, lots of senior management support, etc. But it still failed.

Summarizes the background and career highlights of Jack Valenti, longtime head of the Motion Picture Association of America and the Motion Picture Association. Sets up three difficult negotiation challenges facing Valenti over a rating system for movies, the financial syndication rules for television networks, and a French-backed "culture exemption" for movies in world trade talks.

As of 2005, over 10 million people were using peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks to swap music, movies, and software for free. P2P software programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, and eDonkey received a great deal of media attention. Music and movie industry organizations believed that downloading copyrighted material was stealing. The same industry associations took the P2P companies to court, maintaining that the P2P software developers should be held responsible when users unlawfully copied copyrighted songs, movies, and television programs. P2P software creators claimed that they were merely promoting a technology with multiple uses. Indeed, P2P was a network architecture that could be deployed to a number of other applications, such as distributed computing, instant messaging, voice telephony, spam filtering, and other commercial activities. In the midst of high-profile battles between the entertainment industry and P2P file-sharing software developers, a number of proprietary systems offering legal downloads had emerged. Entertainment industry supporters pointed to Apple's iTunes .99 cent download fee per song as an indicator of the future. Although iTunes satisfied entertainment industry executives that it was possible to pay for downloads successfully, the battle between proprietary systems and P2P file sharing seemed to continue. Who would win in the long run?

Ryan and David Kratz have formed a new company, under very favorable terms, with a fiberglass boat builder. But at the signing of the agreement for the new company's information, the builder's spouse suggests that the Kratz's share of ownership be reduced from 67% to 50%, substantially changing the ownership dynamics.

In January 2006, Joe Hogan, head of General Electric (GE) Healthcare Technologies, prepared to step into William Castell's shoes as CEO of GE Healthcare, the world's leading manufacturer of diagnostic imaging equipment. In 2004, former CEO Jeff Immelt acquired Amersham for $10 billion. The acquisition was part of Immelt's GE-wide move to reemphasize research and development. Hogan had run GE Healthcare's predecessor organization, GE Medical Systems (GEMS). A 20-year GE veteran, Hogan witnessed three distinct stages of the subsidiary's development as it evolved from the Global Product Co. (GPC) to the modified GPC and then to GE Healthcare. By 2005, the company had a 34% market share of the worldwide diagnostic imaging equipment business. GE executives designed the acquisitions to catalyze the firm's move from an engineering and physics-based diagnostic company to a life sciences-based health care solutions company that could better meet worldwide health care needs. Hogan wondered: What challenges did GEMS' previous quantum leaps portend for this new step-function change?

Innovation was linked to Timberland's heritage. In 2005, CEO Jeff Swartz and COO Ken Pucker hoped the Invention Factory, an advanced concept lab, would develop new breakthrough products and reinvigorate the company's culture of innovation. Since the 1960s, Timberland had relied on innovation, developing the world's first waterproof boot and, in the 1980s, category-defining boat shoes and day hiking boots. Creating variations of these core products, along with expansion into apparel, had sustained Timberland's business for more than 30 years. Timberland's growth in the past six years was due to increased international sales and new customer segments. As Timberland's leaders looked to the future, they hoped Doug Clark, a biomechanist, and his Invention Factory team would bring a scientific approach toward building the next generation of Timberland products and ideas. The team had to convince those in the mainstream business to accept their new ideas and integrate them back into the product line.

The issue of privacy stirred a tumultuous uproar when the ABC County Health Department (ABCCHD) was planning for an e-Healthcare system that utilized information technology to streamline the administration process of patients. ABCCHD had hired a software vendor, Info-Health, a company that specialized in information system development for the healthcare industry to help in the project. The privacy of patients with Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Human Immunity System was a thorny issue in the implementation of the e-Healthcare system. A trade-off between privacy and cost was discussed and debated. Three alternatives, with varying degrees of privacy and cost, were considered.